Snowfall
by Kari Kurofai
Summary: Waking from a nightmare about Cedric's death, Harry goes outside to watch the snow fall during the night. It's pretty peaceful, until a certain little ferret ruins it. Part 1 for 100 themes


**Love**

"_Kill the spare . . ."_

Harry jerked awake, finding his breath coming in short, ragged gasps. His eyes were glazed over with hot tears, and he repressed a sob as he wiped them away. No matter how many times he'd dreamed it, no matter how many times he heard those three words, he couldn't stop it. He'd watched him die, over and over, and there was nothing he could do.

The raven haired boy clenched his fingers into the sheets of his bed. He could still feel it. The frozen way Cedric had felt as he'd clung to his lifeless body. It was a cold, horrid feeling that he couldn't forget. And it had been his fault . . .

"_We'll go together. Either way, Hogwarts wins, right?"_

Slowly, Harry rose from the bed, brushing stray strands of hair from his emerald eyes. Picking up his glasses from the bedside table, he made his way over to the window. His hands brushed against the glass, as he stared out of it, not really even looking at anything at all.

He pulled his hand back as his fingers hit the glass, startled at the sudden icy feeling of the pane. Cold, like Cedric had been. He peered out of the window, catching sight for the first time of the whiteness of the school grounds, and the tiny crystals spinning down out of the sky.

"Snow . . ."

Reaching behind him, he grabbed the gold and crimson scarf hanging off of the bedpost. He wrapped the thick Gryffindor scarf around his neck, turning towards the door to the dormitories in the same motion.

He hadn't used the cloak, hadn't really felt the need to. If he was caught, then so be it. Even if Snape found him right now, he wouldn't really care. Harry pushed the large double doors open, wincing slightly as they creaked. He stared out at the vast whiteness outside Hogwarts for a moment, before stepping outside.

His shoes hit the icy ground, and he listened to the squeaky crunch they made with each step across the snow. The footprints he left dotted about in the front of the school were the first out there, and he felt slightly proud of that fact. The first person to mark the purity of the snow littering the ground.

Pulling his Gryffindor scarf tighter around him, he stared up into the clouded night sky, watching snowflakes drift slowly downwards towards earth. Blinking he tried to remember when the last time was that he had stood outside in the snow at night like this.

"_What the heck are you doing out here so late?"_

_Harry turned, blinking snowflakes from his eyes, feeling surprised. "Ah! Cedric! Don't sneak up on me like that!" _

_The auburn haired boy laughed, "sorry, sorry." He shook his head, loosening the gold and black scarf around his neck, and raising his gray eyes to look at Harry again. "I just saw you standing out here from my dormitory window. I was . . . A little bit worried about you . . ."_

"_Worried?" Harry raised an eyebrow at this. "That's silly, why would you be worried about me?"_

_Cedric laughed again, pulling his Hufflepuff scarf all the way off his neck, "well, you're standing out here in nothing but your pajamas and a scarf for one thing." He took his own scarf and wound it around Harry's shoulders, chuckling when the raven haired teen blushed. _

"_Cold never killed me," the younger boy muttered, staring down at the snow covered ground._

"_Well it could," Cedric chided. "And you know what else worried me?"_

"_What?"_

"_The fact that you're standing out here, alone . . . On Christmas Eve."_

_Harry shivered, looking up at the other champion with dull emerald green eyes. "Even at the Yule Ball a few hours ago, you were alone," Cedric murmured, "I don't think you even danced one dance except for the first one, where you were __required__ to."_

_The younger boy snorted, "so what, I can't dance, nor do I want to, what's wrong with that?"_

_Cedric smirked, "it's fun, idiot. Stop acting so high and mighty." He raised a hand up and covered Harry's eyes before the other could open his mouth to retort. "Close your eyes for a minute, okay?"_

_Harry muttered some profanity under his breath, but obeyed. "Fine, they're closed," he hissed. "Now what?"_

"_Stand still and shut up," Cedric laughed._

_The raven haired boy flinched slightly as he felt a hand fall to his back, another coming to rest on his shoulder. "What are you-"_

"_Shhh . . ." Cedric whispered, a hair's breadth from Harry's ear, "Just relax, and keep your eyes closed."_

_The Gryffindor did so, shivering again as Cedric began to guide his body into the familiar opening waltz he'd had to do at the beginning of the Ball. One steps, two steps, three steps, slide, turn and-_

_Harry's eyes shot open as he was lifted into the air for the next step, his breath catching in his throat. Cedric laughed again, watching the startled expression on the younger boy's face. He twirled the Gryffindor under his arm, "okay, ready?"_

"_For what?" Harry breathed._

_Cedric smiled, lifting him up into the air again with a twirl, before beginning to repeat all the steps again. "Sooo . . . What do you think about dancing now?" He ended the set of moves with another twirl, guiding Harry back to the first step again._

"_It's . . . Interesting," Harry concluded, smiling slightly as he was hoisted into the air again. "Because this isn't the side I had to learn it from."_

_Cedric laughed, "well, everyone knows the girl's steps are more fun. You get to spin and be held, what's better than that?" His gray eyes scrunched up, as if he just remembered something. "Oh, wait, there is one better thing."_

"_What?"_

_The Hufflepuff smirked, and pulled Harry forward, folding his arms around him in a tight embrace. "Slow waltz," he whispered._

_Harry blushed, his head resting against Cedric's chest. "Really now . . ." He moved his head up, resting his cheek against the older boy's shoulder, tucking his face into the crook of Cedric's neck. "Maybe we'll have to vote on that . . ."_

"_There's nothing to vote about," Cedric chuckled, pressing his face into the top of Harry's head. "It's the best, no doubt."_

Harry shook his head, clearing the memory from his mind. He pulled his scarf tighter around him, and looked back up at the sky. What was he hopping would happen, that someone would find him standing out here again? Cedric was gone . . . And he was never coming back.

The raven haired boy jolted as a hard, well packed snowball collided with the back of his head. He turned slowly, taking time to make sure a dark glare was in place across his features before he faced his attacker.

A tall, silver-blond haired boy with a dark green and gray scarf wrapped around his neck stood a good twenty feet behind him, packing another snowball.

"Go away, Malfoy," Harry growled, turning fully to face the Slytherin.

Draco Malfoy smirked, and hurled another snowball into the air. Which proceeded to collide with Harry's face.

_Not once, but twice_, Harry thought, rubbing the powder from his face with a growl. _Now he's gonna die . . ._

"What's the matter Potter? To scared to fight back?" Malfoy taunted, grinning from ear to ear. "Are you gonna cry and- Ooof!" Draco doubled over as a well aimed snowball hit him in the stomach. The Slytherin inhaled deeply raising an eyebrow at his adversary. "Good, there's the Potter I know," he murmured, out of hearing range from Harry. He scooped up a wad of snow and flung it at the boy, hardly able to hold back a giggle as it hit him in the chest and splattered across his glasses.

Harry wiped away the flakes from his vision, a grin forming in the corners of his mouth. "Oh yeah?" He muttered, "Well, eat this!"

The snowball fight continued for another fifteen minutes, before Draco collapsed in the snow, exhausted. "I'm dead, no more," he panted. He let out a woosh of air as Harry flopped down across his stomach.

"I'm dead too," the Gryffindor declared, rolling around across Draco's stomach, making sure the blond was completely winded.

Draco raised up a hand, placing it on Harry's head in a forceful manner. "Enough, I need air to live you know."

"Really?" Harry asked innocently, curling his arms underneath his head and tilting it so he could look at Malfoy. "I thought for sure you were a fish."

Malfoy rolled his eyes, "good god, Potter." He ruffled the shorter boys hair roughly. "Anyways, what are you doing out here so late?"

Harry lowered his eyes, "Christmas is just . . . I don't have very many good memories of it, you know? I think the only present I got was a pair of my uncle's old socks when I was seven." He laughed, "and last year . . . Well . . ." he glanced at Draco, "last year kinda took it's toll on me, you know?"

Draco shrugged, "Hmm . . . Well that's not really a reason to stand outside and try and freeze to death." He looked up at the sky, " I mean . . . I don't really like the stupid Holliday either and all . . ."

"You don't?"

"No," Draco made a face, "I always got everything I wanted, no matter what ridiculous thing it was. So after awhile, it just wasn't fun anymore. I mean, if you know exactly what you're going to get, what's the point. So that's when I started asking for the impossible. It's entertaining to watch my father get all flustered trying to find stuff then."

"What kind of stuff?" Harry asked, rolling over so he rested in the crook of the Slytherin's arm, acting as natural is if they always talked like this.

"When I was ten, I asked for a star," Draco whispered. "I didn't get that one, obviously." He smirked, "if you could ask for something stupid and impossible, what would it be?"

Harry thought it over for a minute. There were a lot of things he wanted, all of them impossible. But Malfoy was talking materialistically, so . . . "A Dragon Claw," he said finally, "cause they're supposed to be good luck when you fly and stuff."

Draco laughed, "Well at least yours is a little more realistic."

^-^ ^-^ ^-^

Harry awoke the next morning to Ron jumping up and down on the end of his bed. "Christmas! It's Christmas Harry! Christmas!"

"Yes, Ron, I know," the Boy-Who-Lived groaned, rolling over and pressing his face into his pillow.

The redhead looked annoyed for a moment, before jumping onto Harry's back and sitting there. He laughed as he heard the shorter boy gasp as all the air escaped him. "Wake up! We have to open presents, stupid!"

Harry sat up, shoving Ron off of him, and held out a hand. "I prefer sleep, but fine, hand me a present."

Ron obliged, "right! Here yah go mate!" He slapped a present into Harry's open palm. "Go for it."

By the end of the hour, he and Ron were both wearing new sweaters, eating pasties, and using the tome-like books they'd received from Hermione as paper weights. "Last one," Ron declared, handing Harry a small box.

The raven haired boy turned the plain brown package over in his hands, searching for a name, but there was none. "Who's it from?" He asked Ron quizzically.

"Dunno," the redhead shrugged, "open it."

Harry pulled the string off from around the box and tore it open. His eyes widened in surprise as he caught sight of a large, palm sized, claw.

"Wow!" Ron squealed, "that's a dragon claw! Cool! Who would send you something so rare?!?!"

"I . . .Don't know . . ." Harry lied, blinking back tears.

Draco jumped as a hand shoved him in the back. He turned, surprised to find Harry behind him, staring down at the Great Hall's floor. "I'm wondering . . . Where exactly I'm going to have to go to get you a star," he muttered.

Malfoy smirked, "A star, huh? Weeeelll . . . I think I can settle for the 'Star of The Wizarding World', what do you think?"

Harry blushed, "We'll see . . ."

RANDOM AUTHOR RAMBLE

Yaaaaayyy . . . I finally finished it! It was weirdly long, and I just worked on it whenever I felt like it. :p

It takes place during their fifth year. And yeah, I know they went to the Weasly's for xmas that year, but I like it better when they stay at Hogwarts. :D I hope you liked! Please review and all that stuff.


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